Buttercup's tale
by Kissing-a-starless-sky
Summary: A short story of Buttercup's journey from District 13 to District 12.


Inspired by a cat that lives in my apartment building (who sleeps on my pillow next to me on some nights, especially when I'm studying for an exam :) )

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Buttercup had a good life. There were always plenty of mice to catch in his old house. He owned a well behaved human who was named Primrose. Some of the cats in District 12 had insisted that humans were a burden and freedom was better, but his human had saved his life. He also owned a not-so-well-behaved human.

Buttercup wasn't sure why Prim wanted to be litter mates with this human. She wasn't very pleasant. When Buttercup met a cat that wasn't pleasant, he would fluff up his tail and walk away. But Prim seemed to cling to this angry and scary human. He would never understand them.

Buttercup wasn't fond of his new home so he would return to the old one every now and then. Sometimes he would find the unpleasant human there. He would nudge her as permission to let her pet him. She must not like the new house either.

There had been loud noises near his house one day, causing his human's to leave. After being alone for a while, Buttercup's unpleasant human came to retrieve him. She had indignantly shoved him into her smelly bag and carried him off. Even though he was upset with this treatment, he hissed his usual term of endearment to his human.

The human took him to his favourite human and Buttercup was greeted with kisses and hugs. 'It was always good to be back in the company of your pets', he would think to himself as he lay beside Prim.

When Prim had left, Buttercup was restless again. She had not returned for some time now. He decided that they had probably gone to his old house, and when he got there, his unpleasant human would feed him. She did this out of guilt for upsetting him on some days.

Buttercup had memorised the paths and passages in his house underground. He used the knowledge to make it to the surface. Buttercup had a very good instinct with finding his way home. He had been lost in District 12 many a time. This was no different really.

With a flick of his tail, Buttercup was off and into the forest. He took the opportunity to catch a few birds and eat them leisurely. It wasn't an unpleasant walk, but he started to get hungry. There were fewer birds for Buttercup to eat as the days went on.

One day he was chased into a thorn bush by an angry badger after he had tried to get some food from it. Buttercup had escaped from it with a scratch on his side and a thorn in his paw. Buttercup was starting to miss his soft bed at home.

If the cats in his District could see him now, they would be disgraced. A cat of his standards wouldn't seek out the company of humans, but wait for them to seek out his company. Buttercup had an uneasy feeling in his stomach. His ears pricked up at the familiar smell of his home nearby and he meowed with happiness.

He came through the door of his house, which the inconsiderate human had probably left open again. She was sitting on his sofa and he hissed at her in greeting. She started to try and speak to him, but it was beyond his understanding; so instead he circled her, alternating between hissing and meowing. It was almost as if she was trying to speak to him. Buttercup had always known that humans had some kind of intelligence.

He heard his human's name. Prim. He started to meow hopefully and look around for her, but Buttercup couldn't see her. The human started to cry and immediately Buttercup knew that something was wrong. She tried to throw the pillows from his sofa at him but he was too fast. "Where is Prim?" He meowed at her, but knew she didn't understand.

After the back and forth miscommunication Buttercup had with the human, he knew that his human had gone away. He was sad for her. She was his favourite human, but he knew like all kittens would leave their mothers, and all pets eventually go away, his human had left him.

He cried for Prim but more than that he cried for his unpleasant human. Buttercup could tell that she was sad about her going away too, so when she was finally asleep, he lay awake at her side, as he had done with Prim, and kept her safe from the badgers and the nightmares.


End file.
